This afternoon I visited Jaap and Elisabeth. When I arrived, Elisabeth asked me if I had seen a moth on a tree next to the front path. I descended the steps from the deck to take a look and saw a magnificent hawk moth with outspread wings. I dashed home to get my camera and took many photos. PS Peter Hendry duly identified the moth, which was a male. The wingspan is cited as 12 cm on a number of websites, but I am convinced that it was substantially more.
The other day I spoke to the owner of the ‘moths’ garage about not having photographed or filmed a moth there since last September (the 8th, to be precise). We wondered whether the absence of moths had anything to do with the LED bulbs he had installed and he assured me that he would revert to the previous bulbs to see if this made a difference. Yesterday, after overnight rain, there were plenty of moths at the garage, but I didn’t have my camera with me, though I was happy to see that the owner had been true to his word and kindly re-instated the old bulbs. This morning yielded only two or three moths, one of which I photographed. Its wingspan was only 1.5 cm.
Morning walk, Driscoll Lane, again. This time I had my stills camera with me and was able to photograph another splendid tachinid fly, which was on the picket fence. It was brown, whereas the one on the power poll earlier this month was an iridescent green. I just had to return with my video camera, but the fly had flown away.
This morning I photographed and filmed my 5th species of bag or case moth. It caught my eye, low on the picket fence in Driscoll Lane, when I was on my walk and once I saw it move, I photographed it. I returned with my video camera and filmed it making its way to the top of the fence. This evening Don Herbison-Evans replied to the email I sent him. Much to my relief, he was able to identify the species from the attached photo I included.
What is it with Driscoll Lane and flying insects? On my walk this morning I noticed a new-to-me tussock moth caterpillar on a picket fence and cursed myself for not having my stills camera with me. I cursed myself even more when I saw a magnificent tachinid fly on a nearby power poll. I estimate that it took five minutes for me to get home and a couple of minutes more to retrieve my camera and drive back to the location. The fly was where I left it and, although it shifted its position because of my attention, it stayed put and allowed me to photograph it. This seems as remarkable as finding the Australian emerald dragonfly still in the hedge just beyond the power poll, when I returned with my video camera and filmed it from various angles, for a good half hour, six years ago. The tussock moth caterpillar was nowhere to be seen.
Jaap texted me this morning that he had a tawny frogmouth nest with an adult and two nestlings in a tree in his garden. I have seen adults and young over the years, but never a nest. I went to his place soon after lunch and set up my camera on his deck. It was a breezy day. There was little happening, but I filmed the nest, which was rather perfunctory and looked too small to accommodate the birds. I left my tripod, vowing to return in late afternoon when the nest was likely to be more animated. And so it proved. I filmed both nestlings, one of which looked in my direction with open eyes, yawning occasionally. The wind ruffled the birds’ feathers and blew the vegetation in front of, or entirely way from, the nest. After filming hardly anything for the year until the end of September, I have shot 50% more footage since then.
A few days ago I was talking to a resident of our unit block when I noticed a potter wasp daubing mud on the concrete in front of the neighbouring garage door. It didn’t look like the species Abispa splendida I had filmed over the years working on its nest at a friend’s nearby property. And so it proved, when I filmed and photographed it on the 25th. By the time I filmed it today, the wasp had been identified by an entomologist at the Queensland Museum as Delta Latreillei. He was mystified by its daubing behaviour on the ground. There is little general online information about the wasp, which is mainly found in northern parts of the country, with isolated populations in southern areas, Tasmania excepted. A friend speculated that the wasp may have been disoriented because it was impaired. PS On 2.11.20 I photographed what looked like a properly constructed brood cell, with two abandoned circular bases next to it. I also emailed the entomologist, asking if he knew a specialist who might explain what is happening.
Robyn cut my hair the day before I left for Longreach. She told me that there was a shiny leaf stinging tree growing at the edge of the rainforest adjoining her back garden. We arranged that I would film the tree on my return, which I have just done. The tree had grown to a maximum height of about 4 metres. The bulk of its foliage was clear of obstructing vegetation and by filming close to the boundary fence, I managed to get some reasonable shots of the trunk. In a week or two I need to go to Palm Grove to check on the growth of the giant stinging tree I filmed last month.
Today I photographed another beautiful moth, not at the garage, but next to the window on my back landing. Thanks to Peter Hendry’s promptness in identifying it, the moth was confirmed as a female lacy emerald (of which species I have previously only filmed or photographed the eye-catching males) and not what I thought was a new species for my album. The lacy emerald, whether male or female, is spectacular. The ‘at last’ thrill of recognizing the female of a moth, after years of sighting only males, is still a vivid recollection. The lacy emerald is endemic in Australia. It occurs in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Wingspan is 3 cm.
Yesterday I visited Palm Grove National Park with my stills camera to see if I could find any giant stinging trees. At the place where the Moreton Bay fig tree was felled by ex-cyclone Oswald in January 2013, the path diverges. To the right it leads to the Curtis Road entrance near the State School, to the left it embarks on a circuit exiting at the start of Palm Grove Avenue, 200 metres before the main entrance to the park. There was a lone giant stinging tree growing to the left of the school path, its leaves too far off the ground for filming. I retraced my steps to the junction and took the circuit path. I had barely walked 50 metres when I caught sight of a giant stinging tree with four leaves, emerging next to the path. It was only a few centimetres above the earth. I took six photos of it.
Today I returned to film it, taking shot after shot. I concluded the shoot by spreading the tripod on the ground for a series of low angle views of the underside of the leaves and a close-up of the minute stinging hairs on the… Read Complete Text